The Truth About Inui Juice
by SilverCyanide
Summary: Kamio and Shinji encounter Seigaku's Inui Juice and learn one and for all the true horrors of it. //Inspired by the Anime Central PoT fan panel.//


**The Truth About Inui Juice**

**Notes: **Takes place during episode 22 - not sure quite where in the manga - which had various titles from what I've found. Anyway, it's the episode where Momo steals Kamio's bike and they chase the thief and poor Kaidoh keeps getting hit in the head and Atobe half-molests Ann and Ryoma and Shinji fight over grip tape. Ring any bells? Anyway, beginning quotes taken from the subs I have on my episode (it's the scene where Ryoma and Shinji cannot decide, so Eiji tells them whoever wins the challenge - which is assumed to be tennis since Mr. Purse Thief has yet to appear in this scene - has to drink Inui's juice.)

**A/N: **Well that's a rambling note. Anyway, to finish it off I will say that there is personal experience here: ever since the Inui Juice at the PoT fan panel at Anime Central this year I cannot think about Inui Juice (or see it in the anime) with out starting to gag somewhat. 'Nuff said. Enjoy!  


* * *

"If you lose, you have to drink Inui's special vegetable juice in one gulp!" Eiji exclaimed dramatically, hoping that it would help spur on the already determined freshman. It did.

"No way!" Echizen retorted, though he had already set his mind to winning.

"What is that?" Shinji interrupted. Apparently Seigaku had forgotten that he was standing right there and that he could hear them and that was rather rude, actually it was all around distasteful and Kamio wouldn't have liked that either, and say where did Kamio go and why wasn't he here? Oh, right, because he had chased that Momoshiro-kun after the boy had stolen his bike… but then where had they gone? Certainly they couldn't have been fa-

"You don't want to know," Echizen told him, a slight shudder running through his body. Everybody else followed likewise, piquing Shinji's interest.

"No really, what is that?" he repeated, now more than slightly curious. If they were hiding it from him it could mean that it was something very important, and maybe it was one of the reasons they were so good. That would definitely be a reason for them to hide it, because they wouldn't want anyone to find out their secret. But would that be cheating? Because that's using something to get ahead and it's something everybody else doesn't have. I suppose you could say that it was a resource, but still, that seems pretty unfair to have something that is apparently that powerful and to be keeping it all for themselv-

"Here." The entire team of Seigaku-ians present thrust a bottle of it at him, which had somehow gotten put in one of their bags. (Most likely as an experiment to see if the effects of the juice were the same if the drinker knew what they were about to experience versus if they did not.) Shinji stared at the bottle for a moment before opening it and taking a sip.

And promptly passed out.

* * *

"Oi, Shinji. Shinji!" Kamio Akira called. Rounding the corner he had found a large group of Seigaku members huddled around what he could only assume was his best friend, Ibu Shinji. Quickly pushing through them he could see why, as the boy appeared to have passed out. Crouching down he found that Shinji still had a pulse, much to his relief, but the cause was still frightening enough.

"What happened?" Momo asked, coming up behind the group.

"Inui Juice," they all managed to say in unison. A look of dread flashed across the Seigaku junior's face, before he crinkled his nose in disgust.

"Ugh, you can still smell it too," he added, not quite as concerned for the Fudomine member's health as he probably should have been. The team nodded.

"It goes through the plastic," Eiji said with some trepidation.

"Right, whatever. What happened? Is he going to be okay?" a frazzled Kamio asked. The teens looked down at him.

"Probably," Eiji said. "It hasn't actually killed anyone yet. I'm actually surprised it had that effect… though I'm sure Inui will be pleased." Despite the senior's words, Kamio was still fretting, and with the help of some freshmen (who were rather frazzled as well) he moved the blue haired boy over to a nearby bench.

"What the hell _is_ _that stuff_?" Kamio asked, looking at the plastic water bottle near the side of the road with some fear.

"'Vegetables'," Eiji said, clearly not believing it. "If you actually take the time to smell it, it's more like a mix of Tabasco and vinegar. The only way I can think of it helping us is that it's a good fear motivator. But it's horrible." The wind blew the bottle closer to them, the smell almost overpowering. Everybody held their noses, hoping that it would pass sooner rather than later. Despite this fact, it took its sweet time, and Kamio had to resist the urge to pass out himself.

Fifteen minutes later and with the smell hopefully behind them (Eiji had carefully wrapped the bottle in a spare towel he had before Momo threw it as far as possible) Shinji had started to come around, much to Kamio's relief.

"What was that?" the teen asked as soon as he had regained the ability to speak. For once he wasn't mumbling, so shocked by the effects of the concoction that he had been left nearly speechless.

"Inui Juice," Kamio told him, helping the boy up. Shinji looked up at him, confusion in his eyes about what that was but Kamio just shook his head and signaled he'd explain it later.

"We'll be going then," Kamio said, handing Shinji is things and helping the boy up. He was a bit unsteady on his feet at first but after a few minutes of leaning against Kamio for support he was all right.

Apparently Fudomine's tensai had been wrong: Inui Juice was in no way helpful, at least not that the two Fudomine boys could think of, and they were perfectly content letting Seigaku keep it all to themselves.


End file.
